So-called "reefer containers" or refrigerated insulated intermodule containers, which may form parts of trailers, are well known. Generally, areas between the inner and outer surfaces of the roof and side walls of the reefer form cavities to receive foaming material which provides the insulation. The foaming material may comprise liquid chemicals which react to form a quasisolid mass of air cells.
During the foaming operation, the inner and outer surfaces of the roof and side walls of the container must be shored. The shoring elements comprise platens or other restraining devices used to prevent bulging of the container surfaces during expansion of the foaming material which is inserted into the cavities under very high pressure.
The shoring elements or platens generally comprise sheets or rigid material such as plywood sheets which cover wide areas to provide pressure or resistance to prevent expansion of the surfaces of the container being contacted. Holes in the reefer unit container are adapted to be connected to discharge tubes of the foam chemical metering head to receive the foaming material under high pressure.
In a copending application entitled "Apparatus and Methods to Provide Shoring During the Manufacture of a Reefer Container", filed Nov. 24, 1980, Ser. No. 209,545, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,370,795 issued Feb. 1, 1983, which is assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, there is described a shoring operation in which a trailer or container is put in place at a fixed station in alignment with the external shoring platens. An assembly which includes the internal shoring platens is rolled into the container to align the internal platens with the interior walls and roof of the container. The external and internal platens are then expanded to contact the side walls and roof of the container to provide shoring during a subsequent foaming operation. The overall system described in this application is substantially the same as that described in the copending application.
In the aforementioned patent application, it is noted that when the internal platens expand, the inner ends thereof towards the top corners of the container tend to separate and provide spaces therebetween. This means that the interior top corner portions of the container will not be shored during the foaming operation unless additional means for doing so are provided. The present invention is designed to provide these means for shoring the interior upper corners of the container when the internal platens are expanded.